More BCA students write about education

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following are letters from 10th grade students at Burlington Christian Academy submitted to the Open Forum about the state of education in the nation. We are publishing a few of them in print andl put the remainder online under Unedited Letters to the Editor. We apologize that space wasn’t available to publish all in print.

School lotteries leave too much to random chance

Recently we watched a movie titled “Waiting for Superman.”In this movie it addressed many issues with the failing school systems in the United States. One of the issues addressed was that of the lottery system. This is when you are applying to a school that has many people applying to it with only a few spots available. The child that is trying to get into the school gets a number. They receive this number and go and sit down in a room with hundreds of other kids that are trying to get one of the very few spots. Basically, if your number is called you get into the school. If it is not one of the numbers chosen at random you have can try again next year.

The parents are sending their kids to these schools because the kids that go there have one of the best educations in their area. They also have the best teachers in their area. Personally I do not agree with the idea of the lottery system. I think that instead of choosing random kids I think that the kids who want to get into the school should take a test. The kids that scored the lowest on their test should be brought in first since they obviously are the ones that are in more need of a better education.

AMBER POOLE

Burlington

Education a problem in many places

A big problem around the world today is education. It can be very difficult to receive a good education without having to pay. Teachers have little reason to have to try and teach to the best of their ability. A big problem is tenure, promises experienced teachers a job no matter how good or bad they teach. Why should a teacher keep their job when they’re ruining the student’s education? A lot of students and the parents that care for good education cannot afford to pay for a school with great teachers. The solution to this problem would first be to get rid of the “tenure rule” so that there will not be any bad teachers left teaching.

KEALY MCKINNEY

urlington

Dealing with teacher tenure

Teacher tenure is a tricky topic of discussion. Even if a teacher is the worst teacher in the school system, they can’t be fired. Some systems do what is called “the dance of the lemons,” where at the end of each school year, the principals of schools all trade their bad teachers, hoping that they’ll end up with a slightly better teacher than they had before. New York however, has something completely different. In New York, a “bad” teacher isn’t passed around the system. Instead, they are sent to what is known as the “rubber room.” While in the rubber room, teachers can do whatever they want to do. Some play cards or games, others read, some spend their time surfing the internet, and others pass their days by talking. All the while, these teachers still get paid a full salary, just for sitting around and not having to work for the money they receive.

Page 2 of 2 - If a person hired as a teacher is so awful that they either keep getting passed around between schools or stuck in the rubber room all day, they should be able to be fired, but because of teacher tenure, they can’t be fired.

Keeping teachers in “rubber rooms” cosst the New York City district alone $100 million per year).

Tteacher tenure should be abolished. Instead of keeping bad teachers around, the districts would be able to hire new and better teachers.

STEPHANIE WALDOCK

Burlington

Throw out tenure

I believe for public education the school system should throw out tenure. If they removed it, it would give the teachers no choice except to teach well and do what they are expected to do, instead of falling back on the fact that they can’t be dismissed from their teaching job. Tenure is not fair for the kids that are trying to get a good education because their teachers just do not care, and are not doing what is expected of them, therefore it would be best if tenure got thrown out.

New York state is spending millions in a program called “rubber room”, where tenured teachers who have no interest in teaching can go and do anything they would like to do, like surf the internet or sleep and still receive income. Why do these teachers still get to keep their jobs? I do not think anyone can really answer that. It’s not fair to the kids.

ALEXANDRIA CAGLE

Snow Camp

Tenure part of the problem for education

I believe that public education should get rid of teacher tenure. Get rid of tenure, then raise the salary for the good teachers so they can keep doing a good or even a better job.

Teachers should be involved in class so it will be fun for the students and every kid will have a chance to get involved in class. They should teach in a lot of different ways because we all know students learn differently. Teachers should have study sessions after school for the kids so they might be able to understand better.

The school board should check up on the teachers regularly and make sure there doing their job and even ask the kids how they like their teachers. The kids want to learn when they have a good teacher

It should be harder for teachers to get a job and try to see if they really care about the kids.